AUSTIN — The state's consumer protection division, working for then-Attorney General Greg Abbott, sought permission in May 2010 to pursue what it believed was a strong case to sue Donald Trump and Trump University for bilking Texas taxpayers out of more than $2.6 million.

But that lawsuit was never filed.

Instead, the investigation Abbott had opened into the now-defunct real estate training program and Trump, now the presumptive Republican nominee for president, was dropped and Trump University agreed to cease operations in Texas.

The former deputy director of Abbott’s Consumer Protection Division now alleges that the attorney general office's decision to quash the lawsuit against Trump — later a major donor to Abbott's campaign — was a political move that left Texas consumers “high and dry.”

“The decision not to sue him was political,” John Owens told The Dallas Morning News. “Had [Trump] not been involved in politics to the extent he was at the time, we would have gotten approval. Had he been just some other scam artist, we would have sued him.”

Abbott's communications director, Matt Hirsch, responded to Owens' allegations late Thursday, saying, "The Texas Attorney General's office investigated Trump U and its demands were met — Trump U was forced out of Texas and consumers were protected. It's absurd to suggest any connection between a case that has been closed and a donation to Governor Abbott four years later."

According to internal documents provided to The News about the state’s investigation into Trump University, the consumer protection division filed a formal request May 6, 2010, to sue both Trump and his namesake real estate program. Five days later, it set out settlement options to help Texas taxpayers get back the more than $2.6 million they spent on seminars and materials, plus another $2.8 million in penalties and fees.

Both requests were denied, an unusual decision, Owens says, that was made at the top of the agency.

“The refusal of the administration to do anything stunk,” said Owens, a career state employee who worked under three attorneys general and received a commendation for having "greatly contributed to the accomplishments of our office" from Abbott upon his retirement in 2011.

“We routinely got approval to sue people. We routinely went after bogus schools that offered false diplomas,” he added.

Documents detailing internal discussions among Texas’ lawyers charged with protecting consumers shed new light after an Associated Press report that detailed how Abbott’s investigation into Trump University was “quietly dropped” in 2010 when the company agreed to cease operations in the Lone Star State. A few years later, the AP reported, Abbott received $35,000 in donations from the billionaire real estate mogul for his successful gubernatorial bid.

The AP noted a similar set of circumstances surrounding Trump’s donations to Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi.

Hundreds of Texans paid millions for useless information, some of which wasn’t even applicable to the Texas market, AG investigators wrote in 2010. Such practices could get Trump University’s students in trouble with state regulators for practicing real estate without a license, the division learned during its investigation of Trump University.

In their request to Deputy Attorney General David Morales to sue, investigators said they went undercover to attend seminars and also interviewed 20 to 30 consumers by telephone.

"The 'free workshops' are merely a selling ground for the Defendant Trump U's 3-day seminars and offer little useable content," investigators wrote. "The training materials we have reviewed indicate that Trump University 3-day seminar attendees are taught to prey upon homeowners in financial turmoil and to target foreclosure properties."

"Consumers who pay for the 3-day course complain that they are taught little useable content," they added. "Our review of the course materials reveals that the course teaches legally and ethically questionable real estate investment strategies and instructs 'students' to target home sellers in financial turmoil."

According to the documents, 267 Texans paid more than $425,000 to attend Trump University’s three-day seminar, 39 purchased Trump's “Gold Elite” package of additional classes and other perks costing $35,000 each, and 150 others spent more than $826,000 on other goods and services.

“Defendants falsely assert at these 'free workshops' that classes are approved continuing education credit for Realtors," the document states. “But Trump University courses were not approved by the Texas Real Estate Commission, nor was Trump University an accredited institution with the legal credentials to call itself a "university."

What's more, investigators said, Trump University hadn't completed paperwork necessary to even do business in Texas.

Investigators were scheduled to meet with Trump representatives on May 19, 2010, to pitch the $5.4 million settlement proposal. That meeting never took place, Owens said. Instead, the division received "verbal notification" that the investigation and the lawsuit were over.